Snowmageddon 2015
by BeneathTheUmbrella
Summary: NYC is in the middle of a storm on the night of January 26, 2015. How's the gang riding it out?


_So, I was working on my other fic (and admittedly struggling with it), when the idea for this story came to mind. With all the Snowmageddon talk, it made me wonder what the gang would be up to on the night of the storm. So this fic quickly came to be. Of course, I'm Canadian, so the amount of snow NYC got "pounded with" is just another winter's day to me. Haha! But this was fun to write, even though it's probably not the best story I've ever produced. Hope you all enjoy!_

* * *

"Well, that was fun," Ted said as he pushed open their apartment door, ushering Tracy in before shutting it behind them. His body shivered as the last remnants of the cold escaped his body, sighing contentedly at the warmth of the apartment.

"_I_ thought it was," she told him as she shrugged off her coat. "Empty streets, big fat snowflakes falling from the sky, my handsome—if not slightly overprotective—fiancé by my side... It was romantic."

Ted smiled as he looked at Tracy's red cheeks, flushed from the cold. "It would've been more romantic if we weren't in the middle of a crippling snowstorm. Plus, you're six months pregnant; your plan to walk out in this weather wasn't the safest idea."

"One, I had you and these ugly crampons with me, so I was safe," she said as they kicked off their boots. "And two: we needed our snowmageddon snacks!"

She waved the plastic grocery bag in his face for emphasis, stuffed with popcorn and chips and peanut M&amp;Ms and a wedge of blue cheese, her latest pregnancy craving.

The morning started off as usual and uneventful, with the both of them heading into work for the day. But as the snow started to descend towards the earth in the afternoon at a faster-than-anticipated rate, all afternoon classes at Columbia had been canceled, and Tracy's office had decided to close up early for the day, too. So the both of them found themselves back home by 3pm, safe and warm. They cooked dinner together and enjoyed their meal as the wind howled outdide, and decided that a movie night on the couch was all they could do given the pending blizzard.

But they were low on snacks—and Tracy had her blue cheese craving—and she had suggested they at least go for a quick walk to the store. "Digest our dinner, _and_ get some fresh air before we barricade ourselves in the apartment for tonight and much of tomorrow," she had insisted.

So they bundled up and enjoyed the 10-minute walk to the nearest grocery store, walking pretty leisurely despite the intense snowfall, a handful of people also braving the storm on the otherwise empty streets, and then made their way back home. They now removed their lightly damp outerwear, eagerly slipping into their sweats and popping up some popcorn before cuddling together on the couch.

Tracy giggled excitedly as Ted inserted _Sleepless in Seattle_ in the Blu-ray player, and she dumped the M&amp;Ms in with the popcorn. "Think crumbled blue cheese with the popcorn would taste good?" she asked him pensively as he sat down next to her, adjusting his body so she could comfortably lean against his chest and stretch out on the couch.

"Please don't," he begged, as he reached for a handful of popcorn and candy. "I made one mistake by letting you mix blue cheese in with the brownie batter last week. I've learned my lesson."

She laughed at the memory as the movie began. "_I_ thought the brownies tasted fantastic!" she said as she balanced the popcorn bowl on her stomach. "Ta-da!"

"I'm going to miss this when the baby's born," Ted mused, admiring the sight of his fiancée balancing their snack precariously on her belly. "Think once she's here, it'd be wrong to still have her hold the popcorn during movie night?"

"Probably. I mean, obviously not during the first three months," she teased.

They continued to watch the movie, enjoying the coziness and one another's company. Now that Tracy was nearly done with her second trimester, she was often more and more tired in the evenings, so nights at home were par for the course. Ted didn't complain; he loved this quiet time with her. He knew once their daughter came into the world, calm and sleepy moments like these would be few and far between. So for the time being, being snowed in together was complete bliss.

"God, I love this movie," Tracy murmured, as they watched Meg Ryan's character nearly get hit by a cab. "Hey, let's watch _An Affair to Remember_ after this. There's nothing else to do tonight anyway." She craned her neck to look out the window, the wind blowing hard, the snow swirling against the dark night sky.

"_Nothing_?" Ted asked suggestively, brushing Tracy's hair away from her face and kissing the back of her neck. "I can think of something."

"Mmm," Tracy breathed out, shutting her eyes. "You really are all about the pregnancy sex, aren't you?"

"Any kind of sex, really," he said as he pulled at her shirt sleeve and kissed her shoulder. "But pregnancy sex is admittedly quite something."

_Knock, knock, knock._

Ted and Tracy pulled apart at the sound of the door, and then looked at each other. "Who could _that_ be?" she asked.

Ted shook his head and brought his lips back to her shoulder, his hands sliding to her belly. "Just ignore it. Whoever it is, they'll go away eventually," he told her.

"No we won't!" called Marshall's voice from the other side of the door. "Can you let us in, guys?"

"What the..." Ted muttered as he forced himself off the couch and walked over to the door, swinging it open to reveal Marshall and Lily, each holding a child in their arms. "What are you guys doing here?"

"Nice to see you too, Ted," said Lily as she pushed past Ted and into the apartment, letting out a happy sigh as she put Marvin down and started to remove his snowsuit.

"Seriously, there's a snowstorm out there," Ted said as he shut the door behind Marshall.

"You don't say!" said Marshall teasingly as he placed Daisy in Tracy's waiting arms. "Hey, Tracy."

"Hi, Marshall," she said, pulling off Daisy's jacket, always happy to get hands-on training with a baby girl. "Why'd you guys venture over here in this weather? Nothing wild happening here: just another lazy evening at the Mosby-McConnell homestead."

Lily removed her coat. "Well, The Captain told me I didn't need to come into work today due to the weather, so I was stuck home all day with the kids," she explained. "Marshall came home early, we had dinner. And I think I was just suffering from cabin fever, so we decided to head out."

"So... you opted for the confines of one apartment over another?" Ted asked.

Marshall smiled. "We needed some adult stimulation," he added. "There's only so long you can watch _Go Diego Go_ and sing nursery rhymes before you start going crazy."

"Thanks for the positive words on parenting, bro," Ted quipped, grabbing everyone's coats and hanging them up. "Something to look forward to."

"Well, we're glad to have you!" Tracy said happily. "Ted and I were just watching a movie."

_And about to have sex_, Ted thought sadly, looking over at Tracy with a pout. She gave him a pointed look. "Yeah, why don't you join us?" he told his friends, trying to sound enthusiastic. "I'll make some more popcorn."

So Marshall and Lily plopped Marvin down onto the floor with some toys, and they hunkered down onto the love seat, the four of them enjoying the movie and one another's company, when 10 minutes later...

_Knock, knock, knock._

Ted sighed. He looked down at Tracy in his arms, settled and comfy and who was clearly not going to get up, and then over at Marshall. "Bro, can you get that?"

"Sure," he said, getting up to answer the door, revealing Barney and Robin.

"Hey, there's a party going on in here," Robin said as she and her husband walked in. "No invite for the Stinsons?"

"Gotta be honest, Robin, there was no invite for the Eriksens, either," Ted said, giving Marshall a glare.

"_But_ we're happy to have you guys here!" Tracy said to the growing party. "Sit, sit!"

"What are you two doing here, anyway?" Lily asked as Robin settled into sofa chair and Barney sat on the floor in front of her. "Aren't storms the perfect opportunity for you to pretend you're the last two people in the world and have crazy apocalypse sex?"

"That's pretty much what our afternoon was like," Barney admitted with a cocky grin, reaching his arm up to high-five Robin. "But then we realized some extra company would be nice."

"Well, you've come to the right place!" Tracy said. "This seems like the place to be on a night like tonight. Do you guys want some coffee?"

Barney made a face. "Please. How about a real drink?"

"Sorry, guys," Ted said, putting a supportive arm around Tracy's shoulders. "As long as Tracy is pregnant, this apartment is an alcohol-free zone."

"Alcohol-free zone, my ass," Barney muttered as he sat up and strolled into the kitchen. Marshall, Lily and Robin cheered when he returned a few moments later with a six-pack of beer.

"Where on earth did you find that?" Ted asked, eyes wide.

"Hid a couple of six-packs under your kitchen sink a few weeks back," he explained, handing out the beers. "I knew they'd come in handy eventually."

He waved a can of beer in Ted's face. "Sorry, man: no alcohol touches these lips in the no-booze zone."

"Pooh bear, just have some beer," Tracy told him. The rest of the gang laughed as he accepted the drink guiltily but eagerly.

So the gang sat together and watched the movie, and then another, Barney and Robin occasionally whining at their film choices, but the six of them mostly just chatted and laughed together instead of focusing on the screen.

Ted may have seemed bothered by his friends' intrusion on his night in with Tracy, but he also loved moments like these. He knew once he and Tracy made the move to Westchester, and even though they'd all obviously still make the effort to visit eachother on weekends, the days of simply walking over to one another's apartments on a whim were soon going to come to an end.

He recalled the night a few years back when they rode out Hurricane Irene together. So these people were the ones he wanted to get snowed-in with that night.

Around 10:30pm, with the little ones passed out, Barney checked his Twitter feed to see that the mayor had called a state of emergency and that the city was on lockdown.

"Man, I guess we're stuck here," he said.

"Crap, Marshmallow, we have enough diapers, but I didn't bring any baby food for Daisy," Lily said worriedly. "We have to get home."

"It'll be impossible to get a cab," Tracy pointed out. "Listen, the fridge is stocked, so I'm sure we can purée some fruits and veggies for her. You guys should stay! Ted can make waffles in the morning."

"Waffles on a Tuesday morning?!" Marshall exclaimed in mock incredulousness. "That's just crazy!"

"Well, we can buck tradition just this once," Ted said softly. "You guys should stay here tonight."

So the couch was pulled out and a mattress inflated. T-shirts and sweatpants were passed around, turns taken in the bathroom, babies were changed and sung to. And as Tracy and Ted locked the front door and shut off the lights, bidding goodnight to their friends camped out in the living room, they walked hand-in-hand in the direction of their bedroom.

"So, all in all, this was a nice night in, huh?" she told him, a sleepy smile playing on her lips.

"I have to admit," he said, pulling her close. "It was a pretty great night. One to remember."


End file.
